Enjoy
by Queen of Loopholes
Summary: A little innocent teasing alters the relationship between Booth and Brennan. Post Stargazer in a Puddle. [BB] [Rating just in case.]


_Enjoy_

**Summary**: Brennan's teasing leads to a conversation that definitely changes things between her and Booth. Just a little something I whipped together after watching some of season one. **This isn't the sequel to **_**In Another Life**_. I just needed to write something.

**Disclaimer**: Oh, you know I don't own any of this besides the plot idea.

* * *

"I can't believe they just ran off," Temperance Brennan murmured, glancing up at her partner and popping the remaining piece of a doughnut into her mouth.

"Uh, I can. Why are you eating so much?" Seeley Booth inquired. They were sitting in Temperance's apartment, still wearing the outfits they had on in the church earlier. They hung around at the reception for a while, but skipped out when it got boring. It wasn't the same without the bride and the groom.

"I don't have to fit into this dress for a while, Booth." Brennan replied in a 'duh' tone of voice, picking up a gallon of chocolate ice cream.

"Uhh, hey, no," Booth reached over and took the carton of ice cream away from her. "Angela will kill you if you dirty that dress. Then I'll have to arrest her and break in a new partner, and honestly that's way too much work. So why don't you go change and then I'll give you your ice cream back."

Temperance frowned at his intervention and stood up from the couch. "Okay. But if you don't give me that carton back, I won't hesitate to whip out the big gun. Literally," she added over her shoulder as she walked into her bedroom. She smirked slightly and "attempted" to unzip her dress. "…Booth?"

"Yeah Bones?"

"My dress won't unzip."

"That's because _you_ have to unzip it. It won't do it by itself."

Brennan popped her head out of her bedroom and glared at the FBI agent. "I tried. Will you stop being a smart ass and help me out?"

Booth flashed his charming grin. "Got a magic word?"

"I have a lot of words for you, none of them magical," she replied with a smirk. Her smirk quickly disappeared and Brennan groaned at the look he sent her. "Please, Booth?"

Booth stood up from the armchair he had been sitting in and walked toward her. She felt a small flutter in her stomach, but pushed it aside as she turned so that her back was to him. She felt one of his hands rest on her hip lightly and his fingertips brushed against her upper back.

"Bones…?"

"Yeah Booth?" She looked over her shoulder at him through lowered lashes.

"There's no zipper on the back," he slightly raised an eyebrow, but he could not shake the fluttery feeling in his gut. He knew then that she did that on purpose.

"I know. It's on the side," Brennan reached a hand up and unzipped her dress slowly. "Thanks, Booth," she murmured softly, stepping back into her room and closing the door.

The FBI agent groaned softly and walked to the refrigerator, grabbing a beer and popping it open. "I need something stronger than this," he mumbled after taking a long swig. He heard her bedroom door open and she walked out in shorts and a tank top, her hair down and slightly wavy.

He watched her as she walked over and grabbed the chocolate ice cream carton, digging a spoon into it and eating the delicious dessert she had picked up. "You're what my mother warned me about," Booth commented as he walked over and sat down beside her. He drank another mouthful of beer. "You're a tease," he explained when she shot him a confused look, setting down his beer.

"I am not a tease," Brennan replied, her mouth filled with chocolate ice cream.

"You're a tease, Temperance Brennan. You proved that just now."

Temperance hid a smile by shoveling more ice cream into her mouth. So, she had teased him, but it was only a little bit. At the reception, they had hardly left each other's sides. The only time she hadn't been around Booth was when she had gone to the bathroom. Cam cornered her there and asked her if there was anything going on. Temperance said no, of course, but it made her wonder for the remainder of the night. "In my defense, Booth, we've been performing this sexually tense dance for a few years now. I was simply acting on that."

"Acting, Bones, would have been us having sex. You teased."

"Ice cream?" Brennan offered, holding out the carton and dodging his statement.

"You're avoiding the subject," he pointed out as he took the carton from her and shoved some ice cream into his mouth.

"Do you want to have sex?" She asked out of the blue, causing him to cough and slightly choke on the melted frozen dessert in his mouth.

Booth cleared his throat and put the carton down on the coffee table. "Wow, Bones," he stated when he finally found his voice again.

"Well, you're calling me a tease. I assume that if we had sex, I would no longer be seen as such."

"Having sex just so you won't be labeled a tease isn't the way to go about this."

Frustrated and confused, Temperance stood up. "I don't know what you want from me then," she muttered as she started to walk away from the conversation.

Booth reached out and grabbed her hand lightly. "Bones, c'mere," he tugged on her hand a bit, making her stumble a bit and fall into his lap.

"Booth…" she tried to stand up, but he held onto her firmly, keeping her exactly where she was. "This is…"

"Do you trust me, Temperance?" Booth interrupted, tilting her chin so that he was looking her in the eye.

"Of course I trust you, Booth. I trust you with my life." The discomfort she had been feeling was slowly beginning to melt away. She placed her hands lightly on his shoulders, averting her eyes from his face. "Why do you ask?"

"Well…" he began slowly, trying to pick the right words to answer her question as he moved his arms to rest around her waist. "Without trust, there can't be any real relationship between two people. It wouldn't work out." He paused briefly, and then continued, "And if two people are thinking about having sex, they should trust one another."

She thought about his answer and almost immediately came up with another, rather important question. "Are we being serious about this?"

"I am. You said it so yourself, Bones. We've been dancing this sexually tense dance. Why not do something about it?"

He had a logical point. Having sex would eliminate the sexual tension between them, there was no denying that. But there was something about his reply that made her uneasy. "I don't want to have sex with you just to relieve sexual tension," she stated quietly, but firmly. _I want it to mean something_, she added in her mind.

Booth brushed his fingers through her loose hair lightly. "Bones…it…" he took a deep breath, "It would be more than just relieving sexual tension, you should know that…"

"Should I?" Brennan retorted, raising an eyebrow. "I'm never sure of where we stand, Booth. We've never really discussed it."

"Where do you think we stand?"

Temperance bit down on her bottom lip lightly, thinking about his question and what the answer could possibly be. "I think," she began, "we care a lot about each other. I think we haven't acted on any of the feelings we have for one another because we work together constantly and we don't want to risk the relationship we already have."

"I think you hit the nail on the head, Dr. Brennan," Booth smiled and leaned in a bit, making her believe that he was going to kiss her. Unfortunately, their moment was interrupted by Temperance's cell phone ringing.

"Typical," Booth heard the forensic anthropologist mutter as she climbed out of his lab and grabbed her phone quickly.

"Brennan…" her eyes widened with surprise and she grinned, "Ange! Where are you?" She glanced over at Booth with a raised eyebrow, "Well, don't get married without me there," she commented, smiling as Booth laughed to himself. "Okay, I'll talk to you tomorrow. Bye."

Temperance ended the call and set her cell phone down on the coffee table in between Booth's beer and her ice cream. "They're in Hawaii."

"Aloha, Angela and Hodgins."

Brennan nodded. "She sounded happy, Booth. Genuinely happy." She paused and started to play with a string on her tank top. "Now what?"

Booth reluctantly stood up. "I should probably get going."

Temperance looked up at him. "No. Stay," she replied quickly. She blushed and chuckled under her breath. "Please," she added.

"I don't know, Bones. I don't know if we're ready for what might happen if I stay," Booth confessed softly, looking away from her gaze.

"Do you think Angela and Hodgins were ready? They almost got married today, Booth," she took a few small steps toward him. "Do you honestly think anyone is ever ready to potentially escalate a relationship?"

Booth reached over and took her hand gently into his. He ran his thumb over the soft skin on her knuckles and then tugged her closer to him. "Some people just can without thinking about it, but I want to be sure with you. I don't want to ruin anything between us."

"What would you have done if my cell phone didn't ring when it did?"

Booth wasn't fond of the question and he tried to think of a way to answer it, but not completely answer it. "Don't you like a little mystery, Bones?"

"No, not particularly." Temperance smiled at the annoyed look on Booth's face. "I just want to know. You're not required to tell me."

Booth sighed, knowing that choosing not to answer would mean she would search for another way to find out. He leaned over and pressed his lips lightly to her forehead. "That. I was going to do that."

"Liar."

"Oh really?" Booth raised an eyebrow, bringing his hands slowly to her sides. He started to tickle her softly, surprised to hear her squeal. "Bones…you're ticklish?"

"Of course I'm ticklish! I'm not from another planet, you know. Humans are ticklish beings."

"Not me," Booth responded, instantly getting a feeling that maybe he _shouldn't _have said that.

"Oh really?" Temperance poked just underneath his ribs and he immediately moved away from her hand. She smirked and started to exploit that one spot she found, earning a laugh from Booth. He began to tickle her back and eventually they fell onto the couch, a tangle of limbs. Her back was to him, leaning against his chest, and his arms were draped lightly over her shoulders.

"This is nice, Bones…isn't it?" Booth wondered, breaking the small silence that had fallen between them.

"Yeah…" There was a small pause after her answer, and he knew the wheels were turning in her mind. "I think I understand now, Booth. It's not about being ready, it's about the timing," she turned her head so that she could see him through the corner of her eye. "Am I right?"

Booth smiled and nodded, kissing her temple gently. "One day we'll know when it'll be right."

"What do we do until then?"

Booth closed his eyes and leaned his head lightly against hers. "We enjoy it."

-fin-

**A/N**: I know this is kind of late following the season finale. I did start something but I got stuck. So, I popped in my Bones season one DVD and tada! I really wanna know how I did with the characters. Are they completely OOC? A little? Not at all? Any criticism given here will be GREATLY appreciated and applied to the sequel I'm working on.


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